Sealed to Protect
by Port in the Storm
Summary: Minato becomes a biju while experimenting with an imperfect Hiraishin, and he seals away most of his demonic chakra. When Madara takes control of the chakra, everything goes to hell. Naruto grows up with a father, and poor Minato is stuck in a seal.
1. Chapter 1: Prelude to the Beginning

Prologue

Prelude to the Beginning

**Disclaimer: I never will own Naruto. Unless Kishimoto goes clinically insane and dies, willing me to finish Naruto, it won't happen. Of course, the chances of Kishimoto doing that are zilch.**

Minato was not having a good day. Papers and scrolls were scattered across his usually clean desk in stacks up to a foot high. Paperwork had built up to insane levels after taking a few days off to look after Kushina, and he swore it multiplied by exponents of ten each day he was off work. Why couldn't assistants actually do their jobs and file the papers while he was gone?

An ANBU burst in through the doors. Now that was unusual. Minato knew that all ANBU had some sort of commitment to entering through his window unless the situation warranted otherwise, if simply just to annoy him. He mentally groaned. Oh joy. "Hokage-sama! The Kyuubi is approaching Konoha. It will only be three days until it gets here. What do we do?" The ANBU was visibly panicking, which was saying something.

Yeah. Definitely not a good day. It was the worst day ever. Minato twisted around in his seat and glanced out the window where he could sense the approaching evil chakra. He could just see the edge of the Kyuubi's body over the horizon. Minato frowned, and reached out with his senses. He could use his chakra to "see" what was going on, to an extent. Though the technique was extremely limited, something as big and malevolent as the Kyuubi could be "seen" easily. Minato's eyes widened in shock and he swore violently. That... that... convoluted, twisted mass of chakra had chains, red chains running all over it, covered in a massive genjutsu. A minute later, and his mind was stuck in an endless loop of expletives.

"ANBU!" He snapped. The ANBU jerked to attention. "Take a message to the ANBU captain. Tell him to inform the civilians and begin evacuation. I will research a way to stop the Kyuubi. I want no one to disturb me unless it is an emergency until it is within sight of the west gate!"

The ANBU left immediately. He knew Minato. Even with the whole military might of Iwa at their doorstep, Minato had called it "a sticky situation". Minato was weird like that. If the Yondaime was calling this an emergency, then it was bad. In other words, it was much, much worse than what everyone else thought.

Minato sighed and rubbed his temples. This was absolutely, most definitely the worst day ever. _Someone _had managed to mold a huge amount of chakra and tame it to their own purposes. _Someone _was able to cast a massive, powerful genjutsu that not even the best of the Uchiha clan were able to match, to fool everyone into thinking it was the Kyuubi. Only one person he knew of could do this. Uchiha Madara, S-rank missing nin and owner of the Eien no Magenko Sharingan. Minato had believed the man to be dead.

Only someone with that Sharingan eye could control the Kyuubi. Maybe Minato would have to use his "other" chakra for this. His "other" chakra was that of a biju's, the Kyuubi no Ookami, or the Nine-tailed Wolf. He had become Kyuubi no Ookami by accident when he was experimenting with his Hiraishin technique before it was perfected. The technique had promptly drained all of his chakra and sent him to the demon realm, where he gained a biju form, a nine-tailed wolf. He had nine tails because the power he had held in the human realm was directly related to the power he would receive in the demon realm. Minato had been extremely powerful, even when he was human.

Thankfully, Kami was merciful. He was not killed and sent to the Lower Makai for his impertinence, and the goddess had ruled it as a simple accident. Minato shuddered. He had no wish to meet such a frightening woman again, especially after invading her realm, and he never found out why the gods had let him keep his biju powers. To live a relatively normal life (as normal as the life of the Yellow Flash could get), and to not be accused of being a demon, he had sealed away all of his biju chakra using a massive seal that involved his blood and his chakra. Lots of it. He'd drawn the seal a large underground cave, and the area had reeked of blood for days after that. While he could still use his biju chakra, it took a lot more effort and was far more difficult to control.

Minato sighed and drew on his biju chakra. He froze in shock. There was hardly any of it left, and where should have been a raging torrent, there was a thin trickle. He cursed his luck. Now he knew exactly _where_ Madara had gotten the biju chakra to use for the pale imitation of the Kyuubi. Minato had met the fox several times in his biju form, and the actual fox could radiate massive amounts of killing intent above and beyond this imitation. The only conclusion Minato could form was that Madara had somehow found and broken the seal that kept Minato's biju chakra locked and usable only by Minato.

Minato was a seal master, and he highly doubted Madara had been able to unravel his seal by himself. The Uchiha would have just ruined the seal with _Amaterasu_, causing the potent chakra to rush out. While suicidal for anyone else, Madara could reign in the chakra and use it for his own purposes with no one else currently controlling it. Minato could already feel the remnants of his chakra returning to him and beginning to refill his usually empty biju reserves. He groaned, and his head met the desk with a thump. That left him with only one option, the option he hated the most. The Shiki Fuin. He continued banging his head against the desk. Damn Madara. _Thump. _ Damn chakra. _Thump. _Damn biju. _Thump. _Why wasn't anything easy?

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Kami scowled, watching the scene below. She was standing in a dim room, with beautiful dusky-grey walls and a floating circular orb of water in the center. A small pond lay underneath the sphere, reflecting light like a puddle of quicksilver. Scenes flitted across the surface of the round ball of water, showing the approach of the Kyuubi look-a-like towards Konoha.

"Oh, come on, Kami, it's not too bad." The Shinigami, otherwise known as Karite, said. He had a rather nonchalant, laid back personality, and was a womanizer. Kami could attest to that, and had turned down his proposals many, many times.

"Not bad?! _Not bad?! _Look at that scene down there, and tell me that's not bad! Minato's going to end up sealed in his son, from what Matsuro told me. She's rarely wrong! Unless a smart mortal does something to screw with it, then her predictions are accurate. And no mortal can mess with this." Kami grabbed Karite by the collar of his ragged black robe and shook him violently. Kami was usually a very patient, kind woman, but when she was angry, she froze the target of her ire with an ice-cold glare and massive amounts of killing intent. No one messed with Kami. She had had a stressful day, with Madara messing around with her subjects, the biju.

Karite peered closely at the water sphere. "Well, besides the fact that Madara's soul is way overdue, what's the problem?"

"Minato," she hissed, "the Kyuubi no Ookami, my personal servant, is going to be _sealed._ He won't be able to follow my orders if you seal him in his kit! And he doesn't have any other choice, either. That…_Uchiha _took all of his chakra! What were Amaterasu and Tsukyomi thinking, giving that Sharingan to the Uchiha?! " Kami let go of Karite's collar and slumped into a cushy seat that had appeared out of nowhere. "What a mess."

"Well," Karite said, "since Minato's kit will eventually become a biju, due to Minato being a biju, then why don't you just have the Namikaze family serve you? The kid can just carry out your orders, and Minato can help and protect him from the idiotic villagers along the way. The child's his son, after all. That's the best option. Interfering ourselves could cause this dimension to collapse."

A slow, wide grin spread across Kami's face as the tension left her body. "You're right."

Karite grinned. "I always am. Will you go on a date with me now?"

He woke up hours later outside the room in a pile of rubble with a pounding headache, and the sight of a shinigami shaped hole in the wall did nothing to help.

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Minato scowled as he carefully inked out the last interlocking portion of the Shiki Fuin, glancing out the window as he did so. He had spent the past two days studying and drawing out the seal onto the scrolls he needed to use. The chakra he needed to seal didn't actually have a soul, but since Minato was the owner of it, he had no doubts that his soul would be dragged along and put into the jinnchuriki's body.

There were no newborn babies in the nursery or orphanage, and the youngest of them all was at least a day old. While he could technically use the seal on them, the pain would be so great that the child could die during the sealing, releasing the potent, soul-less chakra still under the control of Madara. He hoped that he wouldn't have to condemn his own son to this fate, but as things were now, with Kushina in labor, it seemed to be the only choice.

"Hokage-sama! The Kyuubi is nearly at the gates!" A chunin yelled. His name was Umino Iruka. He was panting, and chakra-depleted.

Minato cursed, snapped his scrolls shut with a flick of his wrists. "Are.." he hesitated, picking up the scrolls. "Are there any newborn children?" The _I could use for sealing _went unspoken.

"There is a blonde haired child that has just been born. The mother is dying of blood loss, however. That boy is the only one available!"

Minato's eyes widened. _Kushina…and Naruto. _ He shook himself. No time for mourning now, not when the chakra construct was upon Konoha. He could mourn later, when he and his chakra were safely sealed inside his son. Now there had to be alterations to the seal. Naruto could use Minato's biju chakra, so there would be no need for the powerful suppression kanji. He could protect Naruto better, but he'd also have to limit how much chakra he put out so that Naruto's body could handle it. Naruto would eventually become a biju himself, so why not get him used to the foreign chakra early? He whipped out his scrolls again and quickly altered them.

The Yondaime used his Hiraishin technique to get to the hospital, where he almost flew to Kushina's side.

"Kushi-chan…hey." He blinked as his eyes filled with unshed tears.

"Minato…" Kushina faintly smirked, and she suddenly seemed like she was before, before she became Minato's wife, like the tomboyish, reckless kunoichi Minato fell in love with. "Go out there, and kick Kyuubi's ass!" She had winked at him and had held her fingers in quotation marks over her head when she said Kyuubi. Of course. Knowing about Minato's biju abilities had allowed her to draw the same conclusion Minato had, and she obviously didn't think that the chakra mass was the Kyuubi.

"I'll do that, k? But I have to use Naruto…" Minato faltered at his wife's expression. She seemed irritated.

"Well, then you go ahead and be the hero. Geez, stop worrying, and go beat the crap out of anyone who hurts Naru-kun. I'm dying, hon. You have to do it, by yourself." She smiled encouragingly at him.

"But.."

"No buts! Last time to say goodbye, so say it!" Her voice was getting weaker, even if she didn't know it.

Minato smiled then, not his usual cheesy grin. "Bye, then Kushi-chan."

Kushina closed her eyes. "Bye…Minato…"

Minato turned away. And Kushina was gone. He was living for Naruto now, and there would be hell to pay if anyone dared hurt his son while he was still alive. He cradled Naruto in his arms and teleported out of the hospital. He paused for a moment to summon Gamabunta, who quickly began hopping his way towards the west gate.

"Gaki. What's going on?"

"…Madara has erased the seal and is using the "other" chakra." Even if no one else was listening, Minato still thought it prudent to speak vaguely.

"Well then, whatcha going to do?" Gamabunta knew Minato's secret.

A newfound determination worked its way into Minato's eyes. "I'm going to use the Shiki Fuin." His arms shifted to allow Naruto to sleep in a more comfortable position. A cute yawn escaped the baby's mouth. Minato chuckled softly. "He looks just like me."

Gamabunta eyed Naruto. "That he does." The giant toad's head turned again to face the raging mass of chakra. "We're almost there."

"Good." Minato's eyes hardened into twin ice chips of blue. "Can you stall the demon while I prepare?"

The toad boss nodded and resolutely faced the twisted creature.

Minato knelt, still cradling Naruto in one arm, and slammed his hand onto the ground, or Gamabunta's head. The eight scrolls he had prepared earlier unrolled, with Naruto and Minato at the center. Minato bit his index finger, and drew the containing seal on Naruto stomach. He glanced once up at the Kyuubi and whispered the words, spreading his hand over his son's stomach.

"Shiki Fuin."

It was as if time had stopped. The chaos of the battlefield faded away, like an invisible cloak on Minato's senses. The sky darkened, and the "Kyuubi" howled in anger and confusion. Slowly, a massive, cloaked form that radiated power stepped out a void and faced Minato.

Minato sighed. Karite had always gone for the theatrics. He might as well go with the flow. "Shinigami-sama. I have a request of you to make."

A low voice rumbled from the depths of the cloaked figure. "Speak, human."

"I wish for you to seal that," Minato nodded towards the raging chakra mass, "thing into…" He choked back a sob and gestured at Naruto. "Please. And, lastly…" He was no longer talking to the Shinigami, instead looking down at Sarutobi Hiruzen, the previous Hokage, who stood below. "treat my son as a hero. He is not the Kyuubi." He turned away even as the Sandaime nodded. Minato knew that this wish was not likely to be respected, and that even if it wasn't, he could still protect his son.

Karite's eyes softened, even if Minato didn't know it. "Very well." He reached out with his hands and grasped the soul-less biju chakra and Minato's soul at the same time. A shudder could be seen as Minato's soul exited the body and was reunited with its chakra. The glowing red chains that previously restricted the chakra shattered while the genjutsu disguising it twisted and warped, showing the ninja below a Kyuubi that was distorting, as if pulled into a portal. Before the genjutsu could completely break, Karite seemingly sunk the hand holding Minato's soul into Naruto's stomach. "It is done."

The ninja watched was the "Kyuubi" vanished, while the body of their Yondaime fell from the sky where Gamabunta had disappeared. It landed in Hatake Kakashi's arms with a soft thump, while the Sandaime stood nearby. Naruto fell to the ground too, but no one noticed the comforting feeling yellow chakra that suddenly extended from the baby's body and gently lowered it to the earth.

**Author's Notes:**

This is my take on the "Minato is Kyuubi" plot. While I've seen few stories with this idea, those stories tend to be unrealistic. My story is also a spin off of the "Minato is sealed in Naruto" plot. What do you all think? Promising?

Maybe I rushed it a little, but….

Translations:

Karite means reaper in Japanese.

Matsuro means fate.

Amaterasu refers to the sun goddess.

Tsukyomi is a name for the moon goddess.

Kami is the highest god of the Naruto world.

Shiki Fuin is a seal that calls up the Shinigami to seal demons in exchange for your soul.


	2. Chapter 2: Dealing with the Council

Chapter 1

Dealing With the Council

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Never will.**

Minato looked around, awed, in Naruto's mindscape. There was only a bluish-white sort of sky surrounding everything, and no 'ground' to speak of. Vague, blurry impressions of his and Kushina's face flitted across the sky, and Naruto's feelings and emotions washed over him. So this was what a newborn's mind was like. He glanced once up at the floating orb that would contained the majority of his chakra. He could access it, but the orb only let him draw out amounts that would not harm Naruto's body. That was just fine for Minato, as it meant that his seals worked.

It seemed that all normal laws of physics were defied in a baby's mindscape. While you could stand on air like it was solid, you could also jet around like you controlled the wind. Minato spent some time getting used to the area before reminding himself about Naruto.

He casually walked or floated around, hunting for the small boy that would be here somewhere. Last he had seen, Naruto was sleeping in the Sandaime's arms. That meant that Naruto would be in his mindscape, as he was not awake.

Ah ha. There. A small, chubby, naked baby that had blonde fuzz and bright blue eyes that mirrored Minato's own. He smiled softly and hummed as he picked his son up. _Naruto. _

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The Sandaime glanced down at Naruto. The boy giggled and snuggled more deeply into the blanket. He had never seen such a cheerful baby.

_Too bad the council will probably want to kill him._

He gathered Naruto in his arms and headed to the council chambers. He had a lot of explaining to do to the council. If he played his cards correctly, Naruto would live a better life than most jinchuriki. And if the council refused to let Naruto have a decent life, Sarutobi would force them. Minato's death had left a gaping hole and a numbness that would never really recede, and he owed it to Minato to take care of his son. Sarutobi entered the room and settled in his chair at the head of the table, ignoring the curious glances at the child in his arms. As soon as the meeting started, he was hit with a barrage of questions and accusations from the civilian representatives.

"What happened-"

"Is the Kyuubi gon-"

"The number of casualties-"

"Enough!" The Sandaime slammed his hands down on the table. "If you now can stop speaking over each other like children, I will explain." The shinobi part of the council sat patiently in their seats, waiting for an explanation, while the civilian portion shifted uncomfortably. No one spoke. Sarutobi settled back down in his chair. "Good."

He met each and every one of the council member's eyes. "Minato gave up his soul and was forced to summon the Shinigami to seal the Kyuubi. He sacrificed his life for the village." The council was shocked. Calling up the Shinigami was a feat that required much more than just a soul. Not anyone could do it. Only those with the mental strength and willpower required could summon it, and the user's soul was sent straight to the Shinigami's stomach. They all went silent in respect for the Yondaime.

Nara Shikaku posed the dreaded question. "What did Yondaime Hokage-sama seal it into?"

Sarutobi faced the man. "Into this newborn child. His name is Uzumaki Naruto, and his mother died giving birth." He held up the baby for the council to see.

Homura and Koharu stood. "What do you mean, Yondaime-sama sealed the Kyuubi into this boy?"

Sarutobi sighed. He knew it. Naruto would most definitely be prejudiced against by most of the village. He mentally apologized to Minato. He could not tell anyone about Naruto's heritage, and it would be far too dangerous if he did. "Minato summoned the Shinigami and sealed the Kyuubi away in this boy's stomach. This boy is not the Kyuubi, merely its jailor."

The council members eyed Naruto with a new wariness.

Aburame Shibi spoke first. "Perhaps it would be best to put the boy under the guard of a powerful shinobi, just in case the Kyuubi takes control."

Sarutobi nodded. It seemed that some council members saw sense. "Yes, that would be a good idea."

Danzo objected. "No, the boy should be raised to protect Konoha. He has the Kyuubi, he will grow up to be a powerful shinobi." He was immediately the target of the Sandaime's ire.

"He will not be turned into a tool to be used! Minato wanted him seen as a hero!"

Koharu interrupted. "Have a trusted nurse take care of him in the hospital until he is old enough, then put him into the orphanage under ANBU guard."

Sarutobi eyed him. "That is a good plan."

Uchiha Fugaku spoke. "He should be killed."

Killer intent focused on the clan head, and suddenly, Fugaku became much more wary of the Sandaime. Fugaku's fists clenched and his knuckles turned white under the pressure, but he refused to show any signs of weakness. Suddenly, the killer intent faltered when a tendril of yellow chakra extended from the boy.

_Wasn't the Kyuubi's chakra red?_

The chakra felt benign, with no trace of killing intent, and, initially, it was comforting. Caring. It somehow reminded the Sandaime of Minato, when the blonde man had looked out upon the village. And then, the room became ice cold. The chakra extended out in sharps spikes, and wound around Fugaku with such speed that no one could react.

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Minato was pissed. How _dare _he. That scum. He was half tempted to kill the bastard, but if he did that, then Naruto would be regarded as a monster. He couldn't really kill the man anyway, as forcing out more chakra would hurt Naruto. Maybe just a little threatening would do…

Fugaku struggled free from the tendrils, and right before his eyes, the yellow chakra molded itself into a form that had nine tails swaying behind it. No one knew exactly what it was.

"How dare you, mortal." Minato hissed. Internally, he was laughing his head off. Making the council piss their pants was _fun,_ and the expression on Fugaku's face was one that he had never seen while he still had a human body. "How dare you try to hurt the child. Not even us demons hurt babies of our own kind."

The astonishment on the council's faces was priceless. The Sandaime's pipe hung limply out of his mouth, his jaw slack in shock.

One of the civilian representatives made the mistake of speaking. "But..how…wasn't the child taken over-"

"ENOUGH!" Minato roared, using his construct as the speaker. "How _dare _you think that this child could do anything on the scale of the nine great demons?! Idiot! How stupid can you humans get?"

Said idiot cowered in his seat.

The Sandaime steepled his fingers and stared straight at the chakra mass, seemingly calm. Internally, he was a mass of tangled thoughts. Why hadn't the Kyuubi killed them yet? Why hadn't it killed it's container? Why had it bothered appearing to them?

"Kyuubi-sama," Sarutobi began, "If I may ask, why haven't you killed us yet?"

The yellow chakra manifestation laughed harshly. "I cannot. The blonde man's seal prevents me from doing anything to hurt the baby. Drawing on more chakra to kill you would harm my container." It turned to eye the rest of the council members. "I should have killed you scum for even suggesting to murder an innocent babe, of your species." Minato prided himself on his acting, but in this case, part of the anger was real. They suggested to kill the very child, _his son,_ he had asked to consider a hero. He had suspected that they would not pay much attention to his last wish, but this was ridiculous! The council paled and drops of sweat slid down their foreheads from the increased killing intent.

"Well then, why haven't you hurt your container?"

The chakra mass paced back and forth in exasperation. "Do you really think that the man who sealed me was stupid enough to forget that?" Sarutobi looked suitably ashamed.

Hyuuga Hiashi put forth a question. "Why is your chakra yellow, Kyuubi-sama? It was red before."

Minato pretended to ignore the man for a little, preening the chakra-contructed tails. While the man sat patiently in his seat, Minato answered. "Uchiha Madara controlled me." While not technically true, it was as close to the truth as the council would get.

"What?!"

"Uchiha Madara controlled me. I will not say this again." Minato repeated. "Now, if you'll excuse me…." He turned tail and re-entered Naruto's mindscape.

All of the council, one by one, turned to face the Sandaime, seeking answers. The Sandaime sighed. "We must assume it spoke the truth. All of the old writings say that demons always mean what they say, even if they twisted their words to fool others. Naruto will live a normal life, and this incident is an SS-ranked secret punishable by death. I no longer think telling who the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi is to the general population a good idea. If anyone speaks of Naruto being a jinchuriki, they will be excecuted. Only the jounin and above ranks will be informed of this fact. Naruto will stay at the nursery at the hospital until he is ten. Then, he will have an apartment of his own." The Sandaime stared into each of the council's eyes, as if probing their minds and deepest secrets. "There will be no objections." His voice was ice cold, filled with menace. This was not the peaceful, granfatherly Sarutobi. This was the leader of a warring nation. "This meeting is adjourned."

The council members filed out the door, whispering and muttering while Sarutobi leaned back in his seat and sighed. _Minato, what would you have done?_

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Two weeks later found Naruto safely in the protection of a trusted nurse and a team of ANBU. Though no one ever spoke of Naruto being a jinchuriki, rumors made the rounds about a blonde-haired boy that wasn't a Yamanaka being the container of a demon. None of the rumors were ever proved, however. Overall, Sarutobi was pleased with the result. It could have been much worse, he mused, pulling a sheet from the "in" pile on his desk.

As he stamped another paper and added it to the growing "out" pile, he wondered about Naruto. The boy showed no signs of possesion whatsoever, not even faint whiskermarks or slightly pointed fingernails. Nothing. It was so strange.

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Minato smiled as he played with Naruto in the mindscape. Slowly, his baby boy was developing a sense of self and the rules of nature, evidenced by the formation of a fuzzy "floor" that resembled in feel and texture the blanket lining Naruto's crib. Minato couldn't float in the mindscape anymore, but he could stil step on air and jump to incredible heights. His face became more defined in the sky, while Kushina's faded, like a distant memory. Minato had created soft colorful blocks to play with in the mindscape, and Naruto loved them. The kid could play and toss them around in the mindscape for hours and hours. Of course, sometimes the nurse came to feed him, and then the Naruto in the mindscape left. But Minato could see everthing his son did, and talk with him through thoughts, so everthing was fine.

He murmured, "I'm your daddy, Naruto."

Naruto only looked up at him, blinked with wide blue eyes, and sneezed.

Minato laughed, long and hard.

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Over the next year, Naruto grew and learned. Naruto was a bright baby boy, picking up on crawling very quickly and easily, with Minato whispering encouragement in his son's mind. The mindscape grew to resemble a sort of three room apartment, with bouncy matress for flooring and toys and stuffed animals all over. In one of the rooms, large picture of Minato dominated a wall, showing the amount of influence he had over Naruto. That room, Minato found, showed who Naruto really thought of as family. Even if the baby didn't fully understand the concept, Naruto knew that his daddy was "special". A small, blurred picture of Kushina was pasted in a small corner.

Minato had his own room, as he shared the mindscape, which held pictures of Naruto and Kushina. It was colored a light blue, his favorite color. A list of rules imposed on him by Kami lay on a table that resembled the desk in the Hokage tower. It meant that Minato regarded it as important, but also as bothersome paperwork. The desk was squished in a small corner of a room, with pictures of Naruto and baby items dominating the area. A good portion was taken up by shinobi items, especially his Hiraishin kunai, and fuinjutsu scrolls. Neatly arranged with the posters of Naruto and Kushina were large portraits of Jiraiya, Kakashi, Rin, Obito, and the Sandaime. Framed, smaller photos held people Minato considered friends. Four by six inch, neatly stacked photos showed the people Minato liked but never considered friends. A tiny, locked closet held memories that Minato would rather forget. Ninjato dripping with gore hung there, as well as Hiraishin kunai that were covered with Rock nin's blood. A memory of the Kyuubi's chakra hung in the room, and pictures of the devastation wreaked on Konoha papered the walls. Minato sometimes wished to forget them, to pretend the events didn't happen, that the closet didn't exist. But he couldn't do that. Running from his fears would only cause the closet to expand, to consume his mind. And he would not allow that to happen. He had Naruto to take care of.

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A sixteen month old Naruto clapped his hands and screamed, "Da-da!" at the top of his lungs. Minato winced at the noise and shushed Naruto. Even if they were in Naruto's mindscape, it was _loud. _He had started speaking early at thirteen months instead of the usual fourteen to twenty months of age, probably because Minato talked to him practically twenty-four seven. How he regretted teaching the boy how to say the word, daddy. Naruto had been yelling it at the top of his lungs ittermittently, stopping after Minato shushed him, and saying it again when Naruto had forgotten about the scolding.

His mindscape had a blue and white sky, with a large, open field as ground. A three room cottage with a small porch was where Minato and Naruto usually played in the mindscape. The laws of physics were no longer screwed, and everything was done normally, partially a result of the new exposure to the outside world, and partly because of Minato's influence.

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Naruto's POV, 3 years old.

The nurse entered the boy's room, humming cheerfully as she went. Her name was Tameshi Akiko, and she was a trusted medic nin assigned to the task of watching Naruto by the Sandaime. At first, she resented having to help the brat, seeing as he contained the Kyuubi no Yoko, but after awhile, her views changed. She had been told of both of the S class secrets associated with Uzumaki Naruto, so at first, she disliked him. After awhile, the boy's cheerful attitude became infectuous. He was such a cheerful, kind little boy, that it was impossible to hate him once you got to know him.

"Hey there, Naruto-kun!"

"Ai-ko-niichan!" Naruto yelled. He blinked at "Ai-ko." Daddy was telling him that nice people like her were called "kind". Whatever that meant. However much he loved his Daddy, he sometimes said words he didn't understand. It was just like jiji.

"Time for your food. Here, open up." It was carrots. Mashed carrots, with soft macaroni and cheese.

"I wanna bym-myself!" He frowned at Daddy groaning inside his head. Why did it matter if he made a little mess while eating?

Akiko chuckled. "Alright, but first, let me feed you the carrots, m-kay?" She pushed a spoon laden with food forwards.

Naruto pouted, with bright blue eyes threatening to tear up and his lower lip pushed up adorably. "By-my-self!"

Stupid two year olds in their terrible two's stage with an adorable kicked puppy look. "Fine, fine. But when I come back, it'd better be all gone!"

Naruto nodded vigorously.

She smiled, shook her head, and walked out the door. As soon as she was gone, Minato manifested himself.

"Naruto!"

"Aww, daddy, pleeeaaasee? Kiba says he can do it!" Naruto adopted his kicked puppy look for the second time that day. Minato was immune, and he was frankly quite worried about the effects of Naruto's new friends on his son. He had met the Inuzaka at the park one day at an outing. It had not been fun for Minato. Naruto and his nurse may have not minded dog slobber from Tsume's large nin-dog on Naruto's face, but Minato sure did.

"If you make a mess, no Ooki." Ooki was Naruto's pet name for a certain stuffed wolf that the Sandaime had gotten Naruto for a present after he saw that the boy did not like the stuffed fox he had gotten for his birthday at all. Minato could take the wolf and hide it until Naruto was suitably chatised.

"Fine, daddy." He grumbled. Naruto pouted as he tried to properly fit the small spoon in his hand. Minato reached down with his chakra construct and gently wrapped Naruto's fingers around it. Naruto glared up at him, but ate anyways. Minato smiled.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Naruto, 5 years old.

Sarutobi strode cheerfully to Naruto's room. The boy was allowed full run of a floor in the hospital, the same floor as his room was in.

"Hello, Naruto."

"Jiji!!!" Naruto flung himself at the man, and hugged him tight, somehow still managing to cling to Ooki (he had just gotten it back last night from Minato after a prank).

"What's this I hear about you splashing the doctors with water?" The Sandaime adopted a mock angry stance, staring down Naruto.

"Aww, jiji, it was just a prank." He did the Puppy-Eyes no jutsu on the hapless Sandaime. While Minato had been exposed to it enough times to be immune to the look, the Sandaime was not.

"Fine, Naruto." The Sandaime sighed, ruffling Naruto's sunshine-yellow hair. That look should be considered an A-rank kinjutsu.

He had come to visit today, because he needed to check the seal on Naruto's stomach. That, and why couldn't he visit his favorite grandson?

"Naruto, I'll let you have a piece of dango if you lift your shirt for me."

"To check the seal gain'?" He lifted up his shirt. Naruto recalled what his daddy had said about seals. They were cool, could do a lot of cool things, and were really, really hard to learn. Ninja could learn about them.

Daddy had been a ninja, and ninja sometimes had to do bad stuff, but Daddy had also protected his precious things, like Konoha and his friends. Daddy was really strong and a biju (whatever that was) and he had a ton of chakra. Naruto wanted to protect Ai-ko niichan and jiji and his friends from the park and his daddy, and he loved Konoha, so he wanted to become a ninja too! Daddy was happy, but he was sad too. Maybe cause' ninja had to do bad things?

"Hey, jiji…" Naruto trailed off thoughtfully. The Sandaime 'Hm'ed in aknowlegement and straightened up from checking the seal. Everything was fine.

"Naruto, are you sure?" Minato thought to Naruto.He had butted in because he didn't want his son making a decision he would regret, and he could hear his son's thoughts. A ninja's life was hard.

_ "Yes, I'm sure, daddy! I wanna protect you, and jiji, and Akiko and my friends at the park and the nice people in Konoha! Just like you!" _

Minato only smiled, and told his son that it was alright then.

"…can I become a ninja?"

The Sandaime was surprised. How did the boy know about ninja? "Why, Naruto?"

Naruto nearly chirped that 'Daddy told me it was okay to be one!', but Minato quickly cut off that line of thought and told him that it was really, really not a good idea to say that.

Naruto pouted. "Ninja protect people. I wanna to protect my friends."

"That's it?" Asked the Sandaime, perturbed. Most five year-olds said, "I wanna learn cool jutsu!" or something similar, but Naruto had given the reply of a mature teenager.

"Well then, Naruto, are you sure?"

"YES!" Naruto yelled. He'd had enough of that from Dad.

"Alright then, I'll enroll you in the Ninja Academy when you're old enough." Sarutobi smiled as he ruffled the yellow spikes of hair. Naruto truly was his father's son.

Naruto himself broke into a wide grin eerily remniscent of his father.

**Author's Notes: **

Normally I update faster than this, but I've been kinda busy lately…What do you think about the council scene? Realistic?

I sped through Naruto's first few years because I needed to move the story along. I promise, the next chapter will have some sort of ninja action going on.

What do you guys think about the story in general? Interesting?

Review!


	3. Ninja Academy, Start!

Sealed to Protect

Chapter 2- Ninja Academy, Start!

Warnings: Mild Violence and Swearing in later chapters.

Disclaimer: I. Don't. Own. Naruto. ¿Comprende?

_-Minato speaking in Naruto's mind and Naruto speaking back.-_

--o0oOOOo0o--

Naruto, 5 years

Naruto clung to his stuffed wolf and the Sandaime's hand as he allowed himself to be led to the Ninja Academy. At first glance, it could be passed over as a regular school building. It had normal white, concrete walls, and a few groups of windows that allowed light into the various classrooms. It seemed to be built in three layers, with a red terra-cotta roof on the first, and the second and third layers plopped right on top. The red doors opened into a spacious, round auditorium, which created a wide, circular tower in the front of the L-shaped building, and a tall tree that held a small swing stood on the dusty path leading to the Academy's entrance. The dark red entrance doors stood tall and intimidating, over which hung the Hidden Leaf symbol colored navy against a light blue background. Underneath that was a bright red, circular sign outlined in dark forest green, in which the kanji for "Academy" was painted in black. A few nervous, new students were led by calm shinobi parents to the doorway.

Most, if not all, students started at five years old, the only exceptions usually being children from non-ninja families, who often entered much later in the system. Clan children, on the other hand, often started even earlier, at three or two years old. The Sandaime did not know that Minato had started training his son from practically as soon as he had been born.

Sarutobi smiled fondly at the little boy he was guiding. It was not an unusual occurrence for the Hokage to take newcomers to the academy; all of the chunin teachers knew by now of his grandfatherly tendency towards children, especially orphans.

Arriving at the entrance to the building, the venerable old Hokage paused. "Naruto, you are sure you want to be a ninja, right?"

Naruto pouted adorably. "Yes, old man! How many times do I have to repeat it?" Sarutobi stopped for a moment, surprised by his charge's vocabulary. Then again, he thought as he shook his head ruefully, it would not be the first time Naruto had impressed them with his intelligence. He had a little prodigy on his hands. When you considered his parents, it was almost to be expected, however.

"Alright. Let's go then, Naruto." Beaming at his adopted grandfather, Naruto bounced forwards, clutching to his stuffed wolf. He pushed the doors open, waving goodbye to the Sandaime.

The doors slammed shut. Pausing in the massive auditorium, Naruto stared in awe for a moment. It was mostly empty; Naruto had been over twenty minutes early. He stood there, gaping for at least three minutes before remembering his ninja class. He needed to be there on time! As he struggled to remember the classroom number he was assigned to, Minato made his presence known in Naruto's mind. _-It's classroom A-5, son. –_

Naruto immediately scowled. _–I know, Dad! -_ Unbeknownst to him, an adorable pout was forming on his face. Minato (dare he say it?) giggled and manifested himself so that only Naruto could see him.

–_Awww. - _He teased, ruffling his son's bright yellow, spiky hair.

_-Quit it, Dad! - _Naruto yelled, slapping Minato's hands away. He was forced to charge his own chakra into his hands to do this, seeing as Minato had only created an incorporeal chakra body, and was untouchable by normal means. What could Minato say? It was good training. Naruto had to carefully limit the amount of chakra in his hands, as failure to do so resulted in painful chakra burns. Minato also occasionally had Naruto spar with him in this form. It increased his chakra control immensely, and if the boy's concentration lapsed for an instant, causing Naruto to go through his form instead of hitting it, Minato would immediately become corporeal and deal a painful lesson. Needless to say, Naruto was not happy about it, despite all of the increased chakra control it gave him.

_-I know where the classroom is! I'll find it by myself! - _Naruto stomped off in a huff, ignoring the blond Hokage cheerfully trailing behind him, just like a lost puppy.

_ -It's on the left. - _Minato mentioned.

Naruto paused in the white hallways to pointedly turn one-hundred and eighty degrees to face left. _–I knew that.-_

_-I'm sure you did. -_ Minato was happily ruffling his hair again, but this time, Naruto did nothing to stop him.

-_Yeah, yeah…-_ Naruto muttered grumpily. He looked up once to check the small dark blue sign sticking out horizontally over the grey door. A-5 was printed on it in white block type. "Yatta!" He cheered. Pushing open the door, he walked in. "Is this Iruka-sensei's class?" He asked, sounding exactly like an innocent five-year old.

The chunin teacher, Umino Iruka, looked up from his desk in the front-right corner of the room, startled. "Yes?" Minato scrutinized the teacher. He looked familiar, especially with that scar over his nose and the wide brown eyes… The Yondaime's eyes widened momentarily. _–Who knew? - _He muttered. The last time he had seen Iruka was when he was a scared, scrawny sixteen year-old boy, rushing into his office to bring news of the Kyuubi. He had grown into a twenty-one year old man.

Naruto eyed his dad suspiciously, vowing to ask about the momentary exclamation later. He was the first student to arrive, something he was glad for. He would have time for his dad to explain stuff about the Academy. Refocusing on the Academy teacher, he grinned widely. "Uzumaki Naruto, student, and future Hokage!"

Minato rolled his eyes and chuckled. Iruka blinked, bemused. Getting up, he walked to where Naruto was and knelt down in front of him on one knee. That usually helped him calm down nervous students. "Hello. I'm your teacher, Umino Iruka, but you can call me Iruka-sensei. You are Naruto-kun, right?" He had long broken the habit of talking down to children who went to the ninja academy. All ninjas were prodigies at this age compared to normal civilians.

"Yep!" Was the enthusiastic reply. Iruka smiled at the kid's exuberance. He had been like that when he was younger.

"Alright. Here's your textbooks, notebooks, and name card. You can take them to whatever seat you want, and sit down. You can read your textbooks, or go over there-"Iruka gestured to a back corner of the room, which was filled with bookshelves stuffed full of literary material, "get a book, and read. Set up your name card like it is at my desk, and then we have to wait for the rest of the students to arrive."

Iruka smiled once more at Naruto, and then returned to his desk. Naruto scanned the ranks of brown wooden desks, designed to fit four children at a time and arranged in two columns with four rows. He chose a seat one row away from the back, on the left side of the classroom, and propped up his name card in front. Placing his new notebooks carefully to one side, he reached for his textbooks and began reading avidly, devouring the information. There was only history, lots of jutsu theory, and information about the duties of a ninja and how a Hidden Village's politics worked, and yet Naruto absorbed it all. He had inherited Minato's love of reading, and he wasn't about to stop now.

He was fascinated.

Minato read over his shoulder, ruffling his son's hair affectionately. The standard textbooks taught much less in the way of practical tactics and fighting from his time, but since it was currently peaceful in Hi no Kuni, Minato supposed it was only to be expected. He would make up for its lack of information by training Naruto later. Sighing, he reentered the seal and decided to take a quick nap before the actual class started.

--o0oOOOo0o—

Iruka sighed and put down his pen, glancing at the clock. Eight forty-five. All the students were here, and it was time to begin class. "Alright." He said, and clapped his hands to gain the attention of his students. Walking to the front of the classroom, he stood behind the podium and picked up a piece of chalk. "My name is Umino Iruka, and I will be your chunin sensei." He said, writing his name in kanji on the grey-green chalkboard. He turned and gestured at a silver-haired man wearing a bandanna next to him. "This is my assistant teacher, Mizuki." The man grinned at the class, writing his name in kanji as well. "Before beginning class, I need to take roll." Glancing down the list, he read the first name. "Aburame Shino...Hanetsuki Miya... "

Minato's eyes narrowed at Mizuki. He hoped that this man was being tailed by ANBU, as the clear (to him) disgust towards the students and the lust for power in his eyes worried him immensely. This man should have been imprisoned, or at least taken in for a psych evaluation a long time ago. He would warn Naruto later.

The class went on and on, turning into a history lecture, then crash course in shinobi skills. At this point, Naruto had begun falling asleep. He had finished reading all of his textbooks, absorbing the information, and was now near-drooling. Or, he would have been if it wasn't for his annoying pest of a father.

_-Naruto-kun- There_ was an irritating lilt to Minato's voice.

-_What?_ - Naruto mumbled. Being half-asleep, he wasn't too aggravated by his dad.

-_Iruka's handing out an assessment test, to find out how much everyone in the class knows. Hope you've been paying attention. - _Naruto just waved it off.

-_I read all of the textbooks, and I know you know I've memorized them. Besides, you've taught me plenty. No worries. - _There was an air of nonchalance surrounding Naruto that rivaled Shikamaru's.

_-Hm. That's good then. - _Minato smiled, and it shone with all the happiness of a proud parent. Naruto couldn't help being happy about making his father proud. He aced the assessment.

Soon, the bell rung for recess, and Naruto was the first person out of there, closely followed by Inuzaka Kiba.

"Boy! Am I glad to get out of there!" Kiba shouted. With messy brown hair and red tribal markings on his face, he was the typical Inuzaka.

Naruto agreed. "Yeah, it was really boring."

"I know!" Kiba rolled his eyes. "I already learned that stuff from my clan. Why do I have to relearn it?" He ranted. "Hey. You're Naruto, right?"

The boy in question nodded enthusiastically. "Yep! Do you wanna practice sparring? I already learned some."

"Sure!" Kiba immediately began, settling into an Inuzaka taijutsu stance. "I'll beat you!"

Naruto ignored the other boy's bravado, and settled into his own stance. It was essentially his father's stance with slight modifications. His stance was looser and more relaxed, designed to reflect his habits of throwing unpredictable punches and kicks. His movements were similar to gusts of wind. Minato, on the other hand, flowed. He improvised, but often didn't break his taijutsu pattern unless he could land a devastating blow on his opponent. Nevertheless, Minato's style was extremely effective and took the most advantage of his extraordinary speed.

Grinning, Naruto sped forwards. He wanted to see how good he was against other genin, not a freakin' _kage_. He was tired of getting beat up on by Minato. The man in question only chuckled and reminded himself to scold Naruto later about charging headfirst into fights.

Kiba blocked Naruto's initial strike, but was waylaid when Naruto dropped into a crouch and swept his left leg outwards, knocking Kiba's feet out from under him. Kiba flipped over in a backwards roll and landed lightly on his feet, while Naruto dashed forwards, intent on taking advantage of his opponent's pause.

Naruto struck out with his arm, bowling Kiba over. "Do you give up?"

Kiba growled and muttered something under his breath. "Yeah." Getting up, he immediately regained his cheery countenance. "Hey, you're pretty good!"

Naruto bobbed his head happily. "Yep! I trained a lot. I'm going to be Hokage one day." Though Kiba didn't know it, Naruto had been momentarily taken off guard by his initial block. He thought he had been going fast enough to surprise the other student. "You're pretty good, too, Kiba."

He shook his head in disbelief at Naruto's exclamation. "Hey, next time, I'll train, and beat you! Akamaru's not big enough to fight, yet, and when he is, I'll win for sure."

Naruto stared, bewildered. Kiba huffed and pulled back his fur-lined hood, revealing a white puppy. "He's Akamaru. We'll win next time, right?" The pup barked in seeming agreement, while Kiba nodded satisfactorily. He stuck out his hand. "Can I spar with you every week? Me and Akamaru have to get stronger, but no one else offers to spar."

Naruto stuck out his own hand. "Friends?"

Kiba nodded, taking the hand firmly. "Friends."

-_Naruto, all Inuzaka have a bonded partner. Their dogs, unless killed in battle, don't die until they do. I thought I taught you that.- _ Minato chided.

-_I did know that, but I didn't know he had one yet!- _Naruto shouted indignantly.

_-That's true…he must be very talented, receiving one this early. Usually Inuzaka don't get their first pup until they are seven years old.- _ Minato mused thoughtfully.

_-Yeah, and I beat him!- _He beamed happily at Minato.

_-Yes, you did. Remember not to charge headfirst into fights, though. What if Kiba was strong enough to knock you off balance when you charged?-_

Naruto huffed. _–Fine, Dad, I'll be more careful next time.-_

_ -Atta boy!- _The delighted Yondaime exclaimed, ruffling his son's hair.

Naruto turned back to Kiba. "Hey, can you talk to Akamaru?"

"Yeah, I can! He's just kinda hard to understand, is all." Kiba grinned.

Naruto's eyes widened in comical awe. "Sweet!"

The two boys spent the rest of recess pattering on about their ninja abilities, with Minato chuckling in the background.

--o0oOOOo0o—

Naruto yawned. Iruka noticed. "Naruto, explain the ninja ranks."

The blond haired boy blinked, sleepily, and pulled his head slowly from the desk, as if something was weighing it down. "The first, and generally the least powerful of all the ranks, are genin. They are what all Academy students start as, and they are taught by a jounin sensei and separated into four-man cells. Genin can become chunin, the next rank, by either passing the official Chunin exams or receiving a promotion from the Hokage. Chunin are promoted to Jounin by completing a minimum of ten S-rank missions and 100 A-rank missions, and either participating in the Jounin exams or receiving a promotion from the Hokage. The next rank, ANBU, is the most secretive rank, and consists of the best ninja from either the chunin or jounin ranks. Ninja get into ANBU by either application or recommendation. And the last, and most powerful rank, is Kage, which is usually the strongest ninja in an entire Hidden village. The Kage oversees all of the other ranks' duties, as well as managing the wellbeing of a Hidden village. They also…"

Iruka cut off the boy at this point, a sweat drop forming at the back of his head. Naruto apparently had been listening, despite all appearances to the contrary. "Alright, that's enough." In fact, he had said more than what was supposed to be taught in the first lesson. He was only supposed to know the names of the ranks and their levels of power, not how ninjas were promoted.

The rest of the class laughed at Naruto's sleepy expression as he immediately conked his head down on the desk.

A certain Uchiha Sasuke's eyes opened wide in awe in the back of the classroom. _He_ didn't know all of that, and he was an Uchiha! He would just have to study harder. Uchiha were supposed to be the best, after all.

Nara Shikamaru considered asking this Naruto to play a Shogi game. It might be interesting… He sighed. Sooo troublesome…

At the end of the day, Iruka announced the scores for the assessment. "Naruto scored the highest, with one hundred marks. Sasuke scored ninety-seven marks, while Sakura scored ninety-five. Good job, you three! The rest of you did well too. Dismissed, class."

Naruto dashed out of the school, wanting to begin his real training. He dropped by the orphanage first, shucking his warm, thick burnt orange jacket in favor if a sleek, dark blue turtleneck sweater, which was easier to move in. Tightening the straps on his sandals, he secured a pack that was designed to hang on only one shoulder on his back (it made it more flexible) and took off for the 'student-safe' training grounds nearby the Academy.

_-One of these days,- _he grumbled, -_I'm going to perfect that storage scroll seal. This pack is darn heavy!-_

The ghostly form of Minato popped up next to him. _–You've almost got it, just be careful not to allow the kanji for 'dimension' and 'time' touch the lines that connect the kanji 'air' and 'void'.-_

-_Easier said than done! Those kanji have special circles that are supposed to be painted around them to distribute the power. And those lines..! Are they really considered lines?! They are essentially complicated, twisting tiny kanji all strung together!- _He griped. _-How did you ever manage sealing, Dad?-_

Minato's eyes twinkled. _–I didn't start sealing until I was fourteen. And there is a reason there are so few fuinjutsu masters.-_

_ -Cheater!-_ Naruto fumed.

_-Think of it this way. The sooner you master sealing, the sooner I can start you on learning Hiraishin.- _

Naruto's eyes gleamed. The two techniques he really wanted to learn were, respectively, the Hiraishin and the Rasengan. When he had first begged his dad to teach him the Hiraishin, he had mollified him by only explaining the technique. According to dad, the Hiraishin seal actually opened a pathway to a special dimension that biju used to warp from one place to another. The Hiraishin seal allowed humans to warp into that space as well. Naruto would eventually become a full-fledged biju, like his father, and use that space just as easily as breathing. Minato had explained all of the complexities of his heritage and the prejudice of the Konoha people, so Naruto had been forced to promise never to use his biju abilities unless in a life or death situation, and to never reveal that he was the son of the Yondaime until it was told to him, unless he wanted the whole of Iwa on his head.

He understood perfectly.

_-So, dad, what do we going to do today?- _

_ -First, we are going to start off with maybe two laps, at a light run, around Konoha with no chakra. After that, five laps, running as fast as you can with chakra support. Rinse and repeat four more times. Finish within thirty minutes. Then…I'll think of something. Get started, kiddo!- _The Yondaime clapped his hands together and grinned cheerily at his son.

_-Right.- _Naruto grumbled. _–Oh yeah!- _He paused, remembering something. _–Are you going to increase the resistance seals today?-_ Resistance seals made Naruto feel like he was running through water. They used focused wind to resist Naruto's movements. Incidentally, only wind-elementals could train like this. His father was one of them.

Minato shook his head. _–Nope, we'll leave it at 1.5x today. You're not used to them yet, and I don't want to increase them again until you grow a little stronger.-_

_-Who wants to bet we'll run into the green spandex weirdoes again?- _Naruto commented dryly, starting his lap.

Minato shuddered, gliding alongside Naruto. _–I hope we won't.- _

Naruto ran along, waving at the odd genin using the path as well. This path was exclusive to ninja, and few were out using at this time, seeing as most chunin and jounin were off doing missions. However, two people were out here nearly every day Naruto and Minato were.

Maito Gai, and Rock Lee.

"Come, Lee! Feel the Flames of Youth!" Maito Gai shouted. With bowl-cut, shiny black hair, massive rectangular blocks for eyebrows, bright green spandex, and orange leg warmers, Maito Gai was everybody's nightmare and a walking fashion disaster. He was easily keeping up with Naruto, even as he broke into his five-lap run.

"Yes, sensei!" Rock Lee was a miniature clone of his teacher, even at only six years old. Gai had been given special permission to train the boy after Academy classes, as he could use chakra to enhance his speed and strength to ridiculous levels, much better than the other students at the academy. Not willing to lose such a promising student, the Sandaime had signed up Lee to train with Gai. Since Gai was a taijutsu master, and Lee would only be able to use taijutsu, it was a match made in heaven…or hell. No one was really sure which.

Naruto groaned, giving up all thoughts of escape as Lee spotted him. "Naruto-san! Your Flames of Youth are amazing. You are out here every day!"

Naruto sighed and decided to just weather it. "Hello, Lee-san. I hope you are training well today?"

"Yes, he is indeed!" Gai boomed. Minato winced. "He is a prodigious student, full of the flames of youth! We will run twenty laps, then do fifty pushups! Then I will instruct Lee in the fine are of taijutsu! He is doing very well."

"Really, Gai-sensei?" Lee asked, his eyes watering.

"Yes!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

They hugged each other, a bright sunset appearing behind them, birds chirping and twittering.

Minato and Naruto stared in horror. It was like a train wreck, or an accident; you couldn't look away.

_-What the hell is…__that__?- _ Minato said shakily.

"Kai!" Naruto muttered hastily, forming his hands into a ram seal. With increasing desperation, he said it again, louder. "Kai! Kai! Kai!" He turned to face Minato, horrified. _–What the heck?-_

Minato had curled into the fetal position, hiding his head in his arms. _–I don't know. I don't want to know. I. Do. Not. Want. To. Know. It's not a genjutsu. And where did the birds come from?-_

Naruto blinked. _–Dad?-_

Behind them, Gai and Lee broke apart and continued their run, shouting loud declarations about the 'Flames of Youth!' and the 'Springtime of Youth!' to anyone who could hear.

_-Snap out of it, Dad!-_

Minato continued to ramble. _–No, no, no. Not possible. Why? Why green spandex? Why?!-_

Naruto mentally shouted at the top of his lungs. _–DAD!! THEY'RE GONE!-_

Minato reluctantly uncurled and lifted his head. _–Oh, so they are.- _He spotted Naruto watching him oddly. _–Why are you staring at me like that?-_

Naruto smirked. _–Oh, nothing…- _ Mentally, he was jumping up and down, cackling evilly. Blackmail, he sing-songed.

Minato shuddered. _–Why do I get the feeling that I'm doomed?-_

Naruto shrugged, resuming his run. _–Probably just your imagination.- _

**Author's Notes: **

What do you guys think? Not too OOC?

Maybe Minato acted like he was on some sort of crack, but… *shrugs*. It's all for the humor.

I tried not to overpower Naruto, but if Minato has anything to do with his upbringing, he'd be a little genius. Naruto's personality is supposed to be laid back and somewhat easily irritated, depending on how well you push his buttons. He will lash out with sarcasm if provoked. A bit like Hitsugaya Toshiro, if you read Bleach.

Note that some grammar and spelling errors are intentional, especially in the case of dialogue.

Please review!


	4. A Slice of Life

Sealed to Protect

Chapter 3- Sleep, Wake, Repeat

Warnings: AU, mild violence, possible swearing

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

-_Minato speaking to Naruto in his mind, and Naruto speaking back-_

Both Minato and Naruto can speak aloud if they want to, and if they do, it will be with normal punctuation.

--o0oOOOo0o—

_Beeep! _

Naruto twitched. The bright orange digital alarm clock took no note of this and continued blaring its high-pitched alarm.

_Beeep!_

He swore it was getting shriller.

_Beeep!_

That was it.

_Bee-!_

Throwing off the covers, Naruto violently snatched up the clock and threw it with considerable strength as far away from him as possible. Its flight was unceremoniously stopped when it embedded itself two inches deep into the wall, bits of plaster and drywall trickling from the hole. The clock resolutely let out one last, warbling shriek, but then died, and Naruto watched the red digital numbers fade from the cracked plastic screen.

-_Shit.- _Minato mumbled unhappily. _–That's the third alarm clock this week.- _

Naruto rolled his eyes, making his bed and stretching. He was wide awake now, no point in going back to sleep. "Yes. Maybe if you'd stop pestering me to buy them, old man, I'd break less."

_-There's no other way to get you up unless I dump you out of the futon. And I am not old, thank you very much! I am a very healthy twenty-four year old!- _Minato wrenched the orange clock out of the plaster, unfurling a C-rank jutsu scroll to hang over the hole left behind. Tacking a nail into the wall, he straightened the scroll and stepped back to inspect the overall effect.

"Counting the years you've been dead, you're almost thirty." Naruto commented, nonchalantly. He continued looking for the black turtleneck sweater with orange stripes along the edges that he'd been wearing yesterday, only paying partial attention to Minato.

_-I'm not dead, just sealed. You can never kill a biju, unless you drain it's chakra until it disappears. Even then, it just reappears back in their world. On the other hand, they can't go back into the human realm unless Kami herself wishes it.- _Minato stated, very seriously for the lighthearted banter going on. _–Besides,- _he continued, _-Time is inconsequential to us after we mature. Naruto, you're still a hanyou right now; if you die, you die forever. You have to be careful.-_

Naruto, meanwhile was tugging his newfound sweater on over a white T-shirt. "Don't worry, Dad. I'm not stupid." He began mentally speaking to Minato instead, careful of observers. _–How did you become a full biju, anyways?-_ Naruto asked, rummaging around in his drawers for black shinobi pants.

Minato shrugged. _–It's complicated. For us, the kind that start as humans, it's whenever we meet both physical and mental maturity…I think. It could be any combination of things, and only Kami knows for sure; she's the one who let me off after I accidentally turned into a hanyou.- _

Naruto tugged his pants on over his boxers, digesting the information. _–So, how did you end up with nine tails? It's possible to get more, right?-_

Minato chuckled, ruffling his son's hair. Every now and then, Naruto showed the same childish innocence and curiosity as any normally-raised non shinobi kid. Being a prodigy, much like Itachi and Kakashi, lines like these were far and few between. Minato was glad that he hadn't had to grow up so quickly, however, and he relished every moment spent with his son. _–It is. Most of the time, the amount of tails you get are proportional to the amount of power you had as a human or hanyou. For example, if Jiraiya-sensei was a hanyou, he'd have around six to eight tails when he becomes a biju. I'm lauded as the most powerful shinobi across the five continents, and thus, nine tails. Apparently that's the most you can get as a human, and the only other nine tail I know of is Suou, the Kyuubi no Kitsune.- _

Minato paused here, musing. _–An interesting guy, sadistic streak a mile long, but pretty easy to get along with when it comes down to it. He and I can exude a hell of a lot more killing intent than that stupid imitation of Madara's. As for a biju with ten tails, there is the corrupted Jyuubi…but Kami told me he was vanquished awhile back. There's a lot of history she isn't telling me, there.- _

Naruto blinked, wide-eyed, long white strips of bandages dangling forgotten in one hand. _–There are ones as strong as, even stronger than you?!- _ He sat down in shock, knees weak. _–Shit, Dad. And you never told me this before?!- _

_-Don't worry. You won't have to deal with them for awhile yet. I still do, though. Collect the reports for Kami, deal with the insane biju, and all that crap.- _Minato laughed, waving it off.

This did not reassure Naruto in the slightest. _–Wait wait wait, that means that I'll have to meet them too! You can't go more than fifty meters away from me!- _His eyes bugged out in horror. _–I'm gonna die!-_

_-Hey, hey…- _ Minato actually looked somewhat worried at this. _–You're going to be a biju one day; you might as well deal with it now.-_

Naruto sighed, giving in to his fate, bending over to wrap his shins. "Why is everyone in my family so screwed up?" He muttered to the heavens.

_-We're shinobi with many, many mental problems. Deal.- _Minato snickered. _–And if you think I'm screwed, wait till you can meet your mom.- _

"Great." Naruto grumbled aloud.

Minato happily floated upside-down, hanging as if from a steel bar in midair. _–All of the Namikaze family, and those who sign contracts and marry into it, like your mom, will become wolf-summon animals when they die. They measure power in tails, but are not quite biju. The Namikaze still living will be able to use a wolf contract, and, with enough power, be able to summon even us, biju. There are limitations, however. And since the Biju are Kami's servants, only the people that she deems worthy of the contract will be able to use it. In other words, only the ones who have good personalities and are not egocentric bigots or homicidal maniacs.- _He said cheerfully.

Only half-listening to Minato, Naruto pulled the bandages tight around his legs with his teeth and wrapped them firmly around his shins. _–I need to go eat, if I don't want to starve during the Academy._

Minato turned away, waving a hand at Naruto. _–Yeah, sure. Just don't go too far away while I fix the hole.- _ He dragged a giant bucket of spackle out of the closet and spread the plaster-like stuff over the hole. _–The things I do for you… - _ He grumbled. –_I can't believe we actually had to buy this much plaster!- _

_-Thanks anyway, Dad.- _ Naruto walked to the kitchen, wolfing down some miso soup, rice, and fish as fast as possible. _–Gotta go!- _

_-Hey!- _ Minato hastily swooped down to the kitchen, disappearing into the seal. _–Okay, safe to go now. It's awfully unpleasant being dragged back into the seal, you know.-_

Naruto grinned. _–Of course I knew that!-_

He ignored his father's cries of protest and dashed off to the Academy.

--o0oOOOo0o—

Naruto idly tapped his pencil against the wooden top of the desk. _–Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored…- _

Minato grinned smugly. _–Who was in such a rush to get to the Academy, hm?-_

He only rolled his eyes. _–It's only been a few months, and my brain is melting out of my skull! I have to stay here for, oh, seven more years? The next decade of my life is going to be hell.- _

_-I'd ask you to play Go, but the only way to visit your mindscape is to a) fall asleep, or b) become unconscious. And we all know what's going to happen if you fall asleep, not to mention I'd be one hell of a bad father if I let you.-_ Minato shrugged.

Naruto shuddered. _–Yeah…-_

Neither of them wanted Iruka assigning them a four-page essay on the topics of the day, like poor Shikamaru. The Nara had never fallen asleep again, though he often looked like he wanted to.

They both chanted mentally, _-Troublesome…-_

Kiba, the boy sitting on Naruto's left, poked Naruto's arm with the eraser end of his pencil. He whispered, "Bor-ing. Can't we do something else? Like practicing shruiken throwing again?"

Naruto muttered back, "I wish."

Kiba sighed and resumed staring dully at the words on the chalkboard, while Naruto went on carrying a mental conversation with his dad.

Shino, the boy sitting on Naruto's right, was quiet. Very quiet. Naruto didn't know it himself, but it was similar to how Naruto was silent sometimes when he talked with Minato. Minato had long known that the Aburame communicated with their bugs often, and used body language to speak. It was why they didn't often speak with others outside their own team.

Naruto had written him off as quiet, and possibly shy.

Minato knew better, and vowed to teach the boy body language whenever he had the time.

Iruka droned on about the history of Konoha, and talked endlessly on about the minor lords warring and eventually combining together into one cohesive whole by a series of small battles.

_-This isn't even significant!- _Naruto scowled.

_-Yes, it is. It explains the political workings of the day, and it actually ties in a lot to how Konoha is run now. If you pay attention, you can pick out the connections between all of the battles and lords, no matter how subtle they are. It's a useful skill to have as Hokage.- _Minato berated. _–Pay attention.-_

Naruto paused, actually seeming to perk up and absorb everything Iruka was writing on the board, but his eyelids drooped and he resumed his bored stare.

Minato sighed, rolling his eyes. _–I'll make you an assessment test tonight to see if you've actually been paying attention.- _

_-What?!- _Naruto whined.

Minato chuckled, folding his arms across his chest. _–Politics really isn't your thing, is it? At least you're mostly diplomatic.- _

The boy scowled, dragging open his history textbook and opening it to a random page. It was at least halfway interesting. _–Of course I'm diplomatic. I'm your son. If the history textbooks are to be believed, you were the most diplomatic Hokage ever next to the Sandaime; heck, you even stopped a war with Kumo!-_

_-Hm…I'm surprised. I did, after all, slaughter around seventy percent of Iwa's shinobi. Why would they call me diplomatic?- _

Naruto rolled his eyes, snapping his textbook shut and reaching for another. _–Oh, maybe it's your innate ability to win any argument no matter the odds? Especially when you happen to be pissing me off?- _

_-I'm only able to win arguments with you because you know logic and reason. If you ignored that and continued stubbornly on with your will, you'd win. Your mother now, she came close to that. She never did get the better of me, but you have no idea how many bets I lost because I underestimated her- _Minato smiled, laughing.

Naruto turned to face Minato, ginning evilly with glints in his eyes. _–Tell me.-_

Minato began backing away slowly. _–Uh, no. No way. I'm not telling you anything. I already saw what happened to Sarutobi when you blackmailed him with Icha Icha. You forced him to pay for twenty-three bowls of ramen!- _Minato turned away, throwing his arms up into the air. _–Twenty-three! Do you have any idea how much that costs?!- _

_-Nah, I'd just make you teach me new jutsu or something, instead of getting me to control and tolerate my biju chakra. I know it's necessary, but…it's boring!-_

Minato rolled his eyes. _–Yeah, heard enough of boring today already. Pop quiz! Give me the basic personalities of all the students and teachers in this room you have not interacted with personally yet.-_

_-Uhh…- _ Naruto glanced around the room. _–Wow. I didn't notice how few people I actually talked with besides Kiba until now.- _

_-Yep! If I do say so myself, Naru-chan, you are rather antisocial, and Kiba often writes off other people as dull. You should get around and talk with others. Believe it or not, Shino can communicate, but just not by sound. Get on with it! Let's start with Hyuuga Hinata. Pale white-lilac eyes, long black hair, straight ahead.-_

Naruto narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing. _–Shy, very afraid… she wants to do something but is too scared to raise her hand and ask; I can tell because she keeps looking at Iruka and beginning to raise her hand. Um…- _

_-Go on,- _Minato prompted.

He shrugged helplessly. _–I don't know.-_

Minato face palmed. _–We have got to work on this more later.- _He muttered. _–You're correct, but there's a lot more than just shy and afraid. She has an inferiority complex; she keeps looking around the classroom, wondering if it's okay to raise her hand, because no one else is doing it. What little I can see of her face is red and blushing; probably embarrassment at being 'weak' , though I can't say for sure. She is the easiest to read of all of them, but because of that, what emotions we see block out other, more subtle ones. Let this be a lesson; excessively displaying one emotion can easily hide others. Next, Uchiha Sasuke. Black hair, weird hairdo, on your far left one row up. Also fairly simple, no matter how emotionless he may seem.-_

_-Probably because an emotionless mask is the most easily disturbed?- _Naruto guessed.

_-Correct.- _Minato confirmed.

_-He's…arrogant, I guess. Pretty polite and stuff, but he thinks highly of himself. He kinda is aloof all the time, casually watching Iruka-sensei like he's got all the time in the world, but he always answers the questions politely. I guess he could be okay once I get to know him.-_

_-That's right. He's also the type to not accept that anyone's above him. He's an Uchiha, remember? You hear all of the talk that says they are 'the best'?- _Minato lectured.

_-Yeah.- _

_-Well, that's the kind of thing they are fed. Sasuke is a genius, but he's… a fragile one. If anyone challenges his Uchiha superiority, he's likely to not accept it and train like hell to get stronger. Or he'll lust for more power…a worst case scenario. For now, he's a relatively nice kid, but he should be thrown a dose of reality sometime soon.- _Minato paused, thinking. _–I don't genuinely blame him, the Uchiha clan raises all of their kids this way. Most of them turn out decent, but with Sasuke being Uchiha Itachi's younger brother…- _Minato shook his head. _–Fugaku's got a younger son that wants attention, but is ignored because of weakness and a slightly psychotic older one that's got attention he doesn't want because of his strength. One dysfunctional family right there. It's also a nice setup for mental problems once Sasuke starts taking A-rank missions.-_

_-How do you know all of that?- _Naruto questioned.

_-Well, I know because I was Hokage and I got along with Itachi pretty well. But you can also guess by just what you hear. You know, those conversations with 'did you hear what that Uchiha did? Itachi? He killed the A-rank missing nin going around…' you get the idea. And no one talks about Sasuke, though he is a genius. Just from the fact that Uchihas as a whole are antisocial and tend to be arrogant, you can guess the dynamics of the entire clan. There you have it.- _Minato shrugged.

_-You're the freaking Yondaime Hokage!- _Naruto griped. _–I'm a five year old going on six! I can't observe all that!- _

Minato chuckled and ruffled Naruto's hair. _–I don't expect you to. That's why I'm teaching you. Actually, if you grew up in the war and you have the same abilities you have now, you would've been promoted to chunin.-_

Naruto frowned. _–But I'm, well, only almost six. Isn't that a bit early for, you know, killing?-_

Minato smiled sadly, removing his hand from his son's hair and interlocking his fingers behind his head. _–I think so too. Sadly, Kakashi-bo was promoted too early… look how he turned out.-_

_-Who's that?-_

Minato winked. _–You probably know him better as Wolf.-_

_-What?! You mean the ANBU weirdo that keeps giving me vegetables?- _Naruto sighed. _–Well, he rescued me from those people who heard the rumors trying to beat me up… He's a pretty nice, a bit strange, but nice guy.- _Naruto turned to face Minato. _–Why do you say, 'look how he turned out'?-_

_-When you meet him without the mask, you'll probably think he's the most infuriating man you'll ever meet.- _Minato shrugged. _–His body language, facial expression, and even his speech screams 'lazy' or 'I don't care'. Every other emotion is nicely hidden, and he wears a cloth mask covering his face underneath his ANBU one. Truly, it's a Hatake family tradition to hide body language, but…he wears it also for a different purpose entirely.- _Minato 'stood' upside-down in the air, hands folded behind his head.

Naruto was deep in thought. _–I see…so he's scared.-_

Minato froze, shocked. He finally relaxed, mouth curled into a smile of amusement. _– Naruto, you can be quite perceptive sometimes. Yes, he is scared, in a way.- _

Naruto shook his head, leaning back in his chair. _–Man, dad, you gave a nice lecture. It's like a riddle you have to solve…body language, that is. Who do I have to check out next?-_

Minato paused, acting shocked. He whipped around, pointing at the clock at the front of the classroom. _–Oh, look at the time!- _

_-Dad!- _Naruto growled. _–Ugh, remember what I said this morning?-_

_-Yes?- _Minato questioned innocently.

_-I'd like to reiterate. My family is the most screwed up, ever.- _

Loud laughter followed.

--o0oOOOo0o—

Naruto wandered home, a scroll with his homework assignments tucked under one arm. He kicked absentmindedly at a pebble in his path, watching it bounce off a light post. It was his day off from training, so he had plenty of free time.

"Naruto." Shikamaru wandered up behind him, followed closely by Choji, who looked quite bemused. It was actually the first time Shikamaru had actually bothered to do anything besides drag himself to the roof of the Academy and watch clouds.

"Yeah, Shikamaru?" Naruto stopped and turned around, facing the Nara. His hair, pulled up into a tight, stubby ponytail near the top of his head was slightly lopsided from almost falling asleep in class. He clutched a fold-up shoji board in his left hand. The genius always looked like he was about to fall asleep.

"I was wondering…" He began, but then paused. "Troublesome. Anyways, I'd like to challenge you to a game of shogi." He actually looked embarrassed, stuffing one hand inside his pocket .

_-Go for it!- _Minato cheered. _–It's a good time to test your strategic thinking skills, anyways.-_

Naruto nodded. "Sure. Where?"

Shikamaru sighed, relieved. "Um, near the park, there's a grass lawn. Is now okay?"

"Yep." They walked in silence. Chouji started fidgeting, discomfited.

"Oi," He spoke in between chewing on his chips, "so, Naruto, what kind of food do you like?" His brown hair spiked up behind his head, and the kanji for 'eat' was prominently displayed on his t-shirt.

Minato grinned. _–Red spirals on cheeks, solid, round body type. You'd be surprised how much of that is muscle. Definitely an Akamichi. Never call him fat or any synonym for it, unless you want a serious spar.-_

Naruto absorbed his dad's information, nodding. "I like ramen, but it's unhealthy, so I don't eat it too often."

Chouji huffed, folding his arms across his chest. "What, no barbeque?"

"Well, I do like it." Naruto admitted. "It's just that I like ramen the most."

They fell into a short debate about the qualities of ramen and barbeque.

Shikamaru sighed, trailing behind them. "Troublesome."

They slowly navigated the streets of Konoha, waving to passerby, and chatting the entire way.

Arriving at the park, Naruto plopped down on the grass and stretched out. "Shikamaru, you pick sides."

Shikamaru hummed. "Right. I'll be black."

Naruto sat up, paying attention to the board. The pentagonal pieces were set and placed, and light clicking noises were heard as they made their respective moves.

"So…" Shikamaru began.

Minato grinned, nodding his head at Shikamaru. _–Read his body language.-_

Naruto scowled. _–I'm in the middle of a shogi game against a Nara with possibly 200+ I.Q! Bad timing, much? –_

Shrugging, Minato did a back flip in the air before coming to a halt next to Naruto. –_Naruto, reading the body language of your opponent can easily tell you what he's thinking and what he plans to do, if you're proficient at it. This is training.-_

_ -Sorry dad.- _Naruto apologized. He made his move. With his turn over, he narrowed his eyes and watched Shikamaru. The Nara's eyes were focused; that meant that he was giving his all to this game. A tense posture, which very uncharacteristic of the Nara, meant that he could be under pressure to win, or thought he was losing. It could have been any number of possibilities…ah. The black eyes occasionally flicked to where Naruto had set a strong defense with his knights and pawns around his king, and also to where Naruto lauched an offense against Shikamaru's own position. So he was worried about losing, then.

The Nara glanced once more at Naruto's defense, before lifting a bishop and placing it out on the board with a soft click.

So Shikamaru was trying to break the defense around his King.

Minato broke into his thoughts. _–Body language is often far more subtle than this, especially in the higher echelons of politics. They could be purposely misleading you with body language. Still, it is very difficult to do so, and their base reactions to what you say cannot be hidden. But also, most body language involves a lot of deduction, and information regarding the circumstances. If the person you are trying to read is in a blank, white room, it is up to you to give the cues for the person to react to. Morino Ibiki, the current head of the T&I, is the best person alive at psychologically picking apart someone.-_

Naruto, meanwhile, found the connections between Shikamaru's bishop and the other pieces he planned to move into place, and carefully set up a nasty trap with a possible chance of checkmate. He was fully aware that the Nara could spot it and take advantage, but…

Minato fell silent and went back to watching the game. To him, it was child's play. The genius Yondaime Hokage against a five-year old? But Shikamaru Nara was a genius, and would probably be giving him a run for his money when he got older, Minato noted.

The Nara formed his hands into a circle, carefully lowering his arms until they rested on his knees. Naruto noted the sharpened concentration in Shikamaru's eyes.

He sighed. "I resign."

Naruto jumped, jolted out of his reverie. "Well…holy crap. You're pretty good." He sometimes played games against the occasional friendly chunin, and sometimes even won. Shikamaru had been really giving him a hard time.

Shikamaru shook his head. "You're better. How about we play again, next week, same time, same place?"

Naruto chuckled. "Sure. Not too many good opponents? I hear ya. Try playing the chunin; they always give good games, even if they might look at you funny at first because you're just five." He should know. He had gotten hooked on the game by Minato, and was now thrashed in a regular basis. Minato swore Naruto was getting better, though.

The Nara nodded thoughtfully. "Thank you, I will."

Naruto waved them goodbye, watching as Shikamaru lethargically only raised a hand as a parting gesture. He flopped back down on the grass, staring up at the clouds.

_-Heh. The first day I try to make you to socialize, two people already are coming and trying to get to know you.- _Minato smirked, ruffling Naruto's hair cheerfully.

_-Yeah, yeah…- _Naruto scowled.

Minato plopped down on the grass next to him, and watched the clouds. _–I think it's okay to take a break from training once in awhile.-_

Naruto grinned, eyes lighting up. _–Can I go to Ichiraku's?- _ He asked excitedly.

_-Sure…just at dinnertime. It's only four o' clock, after all.- _

_ -But…please?-_

_ -No.-_

_ -Aw, man…-_

**Author's Notes: **

Crazy…that has to be one of the longest chapters I've ever written. What do you guys think?

Is Minato's and Naruto's interactions too casual for a father/son relationship? Should they be more formal? Do you think the wolf contract and biju stuff is fine, or do you think I should change it?

This is a bit of a filler chapter, to establish the relationships between characters.

Again, feedback makes me tick!

Suou is a Japanese word referring to the symbolic and figurative meaning of the color 'red', as in blood red. It's not a word that is fully translatable to English, and it's difficult to describe. I think it suits the Kyuubi no Kitsune perfectly.

Please Review!


	5. Over the Next Few Years

Sealed to Protect

Chapter 4- Over the Next Couple Years

Warnings: AU, Mild Violence, Possible Swearing

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and this is a nonprofit work.

_-Minato and Naruto speaking to each other telepathically.- _

--o0oOOOo0o—

Minato washed his hands in the bathroom sink, poking his head outside the room to glance at the sun through a clear glass window. Judging the time, he casually reached under the sink to pull out a medium-sized, bright red, plastic bucket. Filling it to the brim with lukewarm water, he hefted it over to the small bed on which Naruto lay sleeping and dumped it unceremoniously onto the twelve-year old boy.

"Agphththth!" He spluttered. "Dad!?" Naruto shot up, soaked to the bone. His usually spiky blond hair stuck flat to his skull, and he blinked rapidly, clearing the water from his eyes.

"Rise and shine, Naru-chan! It's Academy graduation day!" Minato chirped cheerfully, flicking on a light switch. Naruto knew from experience that Minato was disgustingly happy in the mornings. On the other hand, Naruto was not a morning person, and loved sleeping in. Of course, Minato would not allow that.

"Don't call me Naru-chan!" Naruto snapped, getting out of bed and throwing the covers back. He pulled unhappily at his wet shirt for a moment, before sighing and going to rummage through his drawers. "Darn." He muttered. "We have to do the laundry soon."

Minato gathered up the covers and hung them over the edge of the shower door so that they could dry. "Well, Naru-chan, if you actually stopped killing the alarm clocks, you wouldn't have to do the laundry so often!" He optimistically ignored Naruto's cursing at the dreaded nickname.

Naruto rolled his eyes, pulling on a new shirt and blue turtleneck sweater. "Yeah, yeah…"

The Yondaime hokage's eyes gleamed evilly. "Would you prefer my customized alarm clock?"

Naruto paled in horror. "No, no! Really, Dad! There's no need to go that far!" He waved his hands frantically in front of him.

Naruto swore that Minato's crazy machine was an abomination of nature. The thing could grow legs! And it bounced! And it screamed a high-pitched squeak that drove Naruto insane. No matter how many times he tried to destroy it, seals inscribed on the inside of the outer shell of the creature made it nigh-indestructible. It was, in Naruto's humble opinion, the most terrifying thing his father had ever done.

Then again, he had been sort of asking for it.

--_Flashback--_

_ Minato snapped a tape measure in front of the new five and a quarter inch hole in the drywall. "Wow, a new record!" He said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Really, Naruto. You're lucky I'm so good at this spackling business otherwise you'd be buried six feet under, courtesy of the landlord." _

_ Naruto scowled, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. "Well, alarm clocks always wake me up, don't they? Even if they do create holes in the wall." _

_ Minato shook his head. "Not always. You're getting better at ignoring them, and the one you just destroyed-" He poked at the jumbled remains with his toe. "-happens to be the loudest one on the market." He began muttering darkly under his breath. _

_ Naruto shrugged. "Make one that will wake me up then." He commented casually, not realizing the full implications of his offhand remark. _

_ Minato's head shot up and a mischievous gleam appeared in his eyes. _

_ The next day, Naruto was woken by a neon light flashing, screaming, bouncing atrocity that refused to be destroyed. Needless to say, Naruto never complained about his alarms again, out of fear that Minato would activate the round, innocent-looking ball shaped object with a clock display once more. _

_--Flashback end.—_

Minato shrugged and went back to draping the sheets over the shower door. "If you say so…"

Naruto hopped into his pants, and exited his room. He made a beeline for the kitchen, wolfing down the healthier homemade ramen there. While Teuchi and Ayame still made some of the best-tasting ramen, Minato had insisted that he only eat their ramen once a week. Naruto ate Minato's homemade twice a week, and every other time ate regular rice, meat, and vegetables.

Smirking deviously, Naruto carefully and quietly placed the empty bowl into the sink. He then sneaked out the door, and locked it with his key. Leaping to the nearest roof, he dashed as fast as he could to the Academy.

As soon as Naruto had gotten fifty meters away, the ghostly form of Minato slingshot out of Naruto's bedroom window and snapped into the seal.

_-Shit! - _Minato cursed vehemently. _–Damnit, I hate feeling like a piece of rubber! Warn me next time!- _

Naruto snickered, grinning at his father's discomfort. Revenge was sweet.

--o0oOOOo0o—

Naruto dashed down the dirt paths, blending into a bluish-orange blur as he swiftly dodged the occasional civilian and merchants out and about at 7:30 in the morning.

A few people greeted him, and he only slowed down just long enough to wave back, before darting off at full speed again. It was, after all, Academy Graduation Day. And Naruto was exited beyond belief. It was the true test for becoming a genin.

The real one, Minato had explained. Not the three faux tests they'd had the entire class take before. Those were just used to measure the class's potential, and the ones who could be promoted in a hurry if a war suddenly started. Twelve was now the age for graduation, whether you were a prodigy or not.

Naruto had fumed at this, but Minato was secretly glad for the measure. While they did restrict the potential of genin, the graduation age allowed children to keep their childhood. In war, children often graduated at nine or younger, and were chunin by twelve, as it had been for his team.

Kakashi had been the lone exception. Graduated at four, chunin by six, and jounin at fourteen.

He had turned out well, but it had taken heartache, depression, deep-seated guilt and the death of his best friend to get there. The suicide and dishonorable death of his father had not helped things.

Minato remembered the seemingly emotionless, muddled mess of feelings Kakashi had been when he finally got to be on his team. He remembered Uchiha Itachi, and how Kakashi had nearly turned out the same way.

He would be damned before Naruto turned out to be the same.

A loud voice interrupted his musings, and caused Naruto to slide to a dead stop in his mad dash. "Oi! Naruto!" Kiba waved eagerly from a nearby rooftop. Ever since they'd had learned how to jump and land long distances safely in the Academy, Kiba had been trying it every second he could get. Naruto himself loved the sheer speed he could get up to leaping the rooftops. He loved the wind, and the sensation of freedom he got. Minato thought Naruto had a wind affinity, but he kept it to himself. No need to get his son experimenting with such a dangerous element so soon, after all.

Naruto looked up, not startled in the least. His father had been training him in detection, and Kiba, compared to attempting to sense the various ANBU Minato often had to point out to him, was child's play. "Yo, Kiba."

Next to the Inuzaka, a head of straight black hair made itself visible. "Oh, and hi, Hinata-chan!" Naruto hadn't even noticed the shy Hyuuga stalking him until Minato had told him while laughing hysterically. Since then, Naruto had gone out of his way to be kind to the girl. They were good friends.

"N-Naruto-kun." She said hesitantly, a shy smile spreading across her face. While hanging out with Naruto and the boisterous Inuzaka, she had lost some of her shyness and feelings of inferiority. However, she remained relatively antisocial, content to stay in her small world with a few friends.

"It's Graduation Day!" Naruto shouted, beaming happily at the two of them as he leapt up to join them on the rooftops. "I betcha Shikamaru's deadlast again!"

Kiba scoffed, rolling his eyes as they ran along. "Probably. That guy would probably put less effort into it than a rock!"

Hinata mumbled an affirmative, blushing shyly. Naruto still didn't know that she had a crush on him, much to the amusement of his father.

"Na, na," Naruto made a noise of dismissal, continuing the banter. "We know he's smart, and he knows it, but he just doesn't use it. His famous Nara smarts are turning to mush and dribbling out his ears! It's a waste. Oh, hey, Shikamaru!" He hollered over the Inuzaka's chortling. Glancing down at the road, Naruto nearly missed the short spiky ponytail that the Nara was known for.

"You know, Naruto, I could hear everything you said, right?" Shikamaru drawled. Chouji, walking beside Shikamaru, looked up and mumbled a greeting around the mouthful of chips he was chewing. Weekly shouji games which Shikamaru won almost all the time had pretty much proved to Naruto that the Nara was a genius. Naruto was at the top of the class; theoretically, Shikamaru shouldn't have even gotten close to winning.

After the first game, the Nara had stepped up his playing style. Soon, he was beating Naruto easily two or three times in a row.

Naruto shrugged, smirking. "Of course…someone has got to motivate you!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, and, if possible, slouched even more. "Troublesome."

They laughed.

Minato appeared, speeding along next to Naruto. _–You know you'll be late if you keep this up, right?-_

Naruto grumbled angrily, glancing at his watch.

"Hey! Guys! We're gonna be late!" He yelled, glancing at his watch.

Kiba muttered something under his breath (probably a swear word) and sped up. "Race you there?" He asked, turning to Naruto.

Naruto grinned demonically and vanished in a blur of blue, yellow, and orange. Kiba smirked and took off after him.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and mumbled, "Troublesome."

--o0oOOOo0o—

Naruto burst through the door of the classroom, causing Iruka to jump and topple a pile of papers that had been precariously balanced on his desk. "Naruto!" He scolded.

Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, Iruka-sensei. But I was racing-"

He was cut off as Kiba barreled through the door behind Naruto and slammed into the blond-haired boy. Naruto lay flat on his stomach, face slammed into the floor, while Kiba stood up and brushed himself off. "Good morning, Iruka-sensei!" He said cheerily.

Well, he was cheerful until a dark aura appeared, Naruto's hand wrapping itself around Kiba's leg. "Ki-ba….!" He ground out, his eyes lighting up in malicious glee. "You're dead!"

Kiba's eyes widened in fright. "Hey, man, I didn't mean to… AUGH! HELLLLP!"

The short scuffle ended with Kiba hogtied and hanging from the ceiling, a large bump decorating his head. Akamaru whined, sitting next to his master.

Naruto smirked. Minato turned to a nearby wall and started banging his head into it. _–Naruto…!- _

Said boy pouted. _–What? You can prank me, but I can't prank anybody else?-_

Minato slumped, massaging his temples. _–Well, no…guh. Nevermind.- _

Minato had been hoping he could curb the mischievous streak in Naruto, but it seemed that it would be a futile attempt. Naruto had inherited a lot of Kushina, after all.

_And I guess it was sort of my fault, too, after all… Playing all of those pranks on him for 'training' couldn't have helped. _

Iruka, meanwhile, twitched. _It's Graduation Day, It's Graduation Day, this is the last time you'll have to put up with the antics of these (admittedly adorable) little brats. _He repeated the thoughts like a mantra.

"Naruto! Kiba! Sit down. Or else." He threatened ominously.

Naruto meeped and sat down quickly, while Kiba (now conscious) escaped the ropes and took a seat next to Naruto.

Iruka sighed satisfactorily, standing up at his desk and surveying the classroom.

"Today, as you all very well know, is Graduation day. It is the day when your life changes, when you become a proper ninja of Konohakagure." He fixed the students with a penetrating stare. "Mistakes will no longer be tolerated as much as they are now. Your Jounin sensei will have high expectations, and you will have to live up to them. You may become genin, or you may not. But in the end, you will all serve Konoha, and I, as your Academy teacher, hope you will do well." Iruka smiled, and sat at his desk. "Our first test is a written test, designed to test your knowledge of the practical concepts you guys have learned throughout the year. History is less significant, so there are no questions regarding that subject on this test. Mizuki-sensei will hand them out to you, and when I tell you to, flip the papers over and we will begin."

There was a pause as the papers were handed out, and Iruka looked at his students. He felt a small glow of pride at bringing them this far, before reminding himself there was a test to begin.

"You may start now."

A rustle of papers, and the genin exam had begun.

--o0oOOOo0o—

**Author's Note:**

Long time no see.

Please don't kill me.

Those of you who have read my profile probably know that this story is on a lower update priority than Time's Spinning Gears (my other story), but really, not updating in over three months?! Honestly?

Port, Port, Port. Sigh.

I have no real excuse besides the fact that finals are coming up. And that I have to study.

This chapter, compared for the other chapters of this story, is miserably short. About 1,500 words short, really, but I couldn't take making you guys wait any longer.

Writer's block, the bane of all authors' existence, has struck again!

This chapter, to me, is a bit meh. Writing about the genin exams are always boring, and the bell test, well, even more so. It is entirely Kakashi's nature to use such an impossible test, and it's not within the realm of my pitiful imagination to think up one that could possibly match the simplicity and ingenuity of the bell test.

I have yet to see an author write about a jounin test for team 7 that is not the bell test or based off it.

Readers, I'm sure you all are bored of looking at poorly concealed attempts to write variations of the bell test, or unoriginal repetitions of the bell test and/or the genin exams.

Well, so am I.

I will do my best to spice up both tests, but…

Sigh.

Till' next time, Port in the Storm.

May 5, 2010


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